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We headed to the Slippery Eel to meet up with Quinlan. Dyskko, the Mayor”s bard, came along with us. He seems nice and we”ve looked into his heart; he doesn”t seem to be a spy. We were talking about the auction and what we might buy and sell. Cinder and I both have new mithral armor and Krylscar (he wants to be taken seriously, so he”s asked us to use his last name instead of “Elvis”, his given name) was teasing me about it.

We noticed two women standing in the street up ahead. It was odd; they were standing side by side, facing us. As we got closer, I moved a few paces ahead of the others. “Hello!” I cried and raised one hand in greeting. One of the women had red hair. She spoke. “Coming from the Mayor”s house? It should have been us having tea with him.”

I smiled in confusion. “I”m sorry. I don”t believe we”ve met….. My name is Indira and –” She interrupted me. “We met at the wedding.”
“Oh, I”m sorry. I met so many people that night.”
“I”m Cora and this is Anna. We”re Stormblades. We”ve done more for this town than you lot have. What have you been doing for the last six months? Hmmm? We”ve been helping people. This is our town. We live here, right on Obsidian Avenue.”

I could sense the others coming up closer to me. I held my hands out from my body. “Well, Cora, my god Pelor, does not wish his followers to seek praise or thanks, but I will tell you that I have spent the last six months healing the sick here in Cauldron. My friends have undertaken similar tasks.”

She got up close to me, leaned forward and said in a loud voice, “I. Don”t. Care.” At that Kyrlscar stepped forward. “Ladies! Please let”s not fight.”
“Oh you”ve taken a break from your stupid campaign?” Anna rolled her eyes. At that moment an arrow slide between Krylscar”s feet. We both turned around and saw Todd, who had dueled with Sadi at the wedding. Todd was standing at a far corner holding a bow. Dysko yelped, “He shot at me!” Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Cinder melt into the shadows. Acgar took out her new spear and Myntilly put her hands on her hips.

Then things got ugly. Cora took a few swings at me and Elvis — oops, Krylscar. I saw Anna step back, wave her hands and then Krylscar”s feet flew out from under him! Some sort of grease spell. It caught him and Myntilly both. He rolled out of the affected area and Myntilly, bless her, just kept up her missile barrage from the ground! I felt a stab in my back. Another person had joined the ambush.
I found out later that Cinder had climbed up a building and was shooting at Todd. She and Acgar kept Todd well contained. While Myntilly was down, Cora lunged toward her and suddenly the world went quiet. Damn, a silence spell. And I was just getting ready to cast my heat metal spell. It”s powerful enough to cover two foes. I was going to cast it on Cora and the guy trying to stab me in the back.

I whirled around to face the man at my back, since Cora had moved to Myntilly. As I turned around I saw Dysko come parading into the area. He was stomping his feet and clapping his hands and then, suddenly, I could hear! Which was a very good thing. Cora was viciously stabbing Myntilly and I needed to reach her with a heal spell.

Anna came up to Cora, put her hand on her shoulder, shaking her. “Stop! Stop it!” she yelled. Cora pulled up straight, her red hair around her face. Her eyes seemed to find Anna”s and then focus. “Just stop it, now,” whispered Anna.

A pierce whistle cut the air. The city patrol arrived! Quinlan and half a dozen of his men lined up in the street. “Break it up here!”

The guy stabbing me turned to run and Krylscar tripped him. I grabbed his shirt and yanked him to his feet. Cinder climbed down from the building. “Another one ran away,” she said. “Todd. Todd Vander Something.” Quinlan motioned some of his men to go after him. He started toward Anna and Cora, who backed away and disappeared down a side street.

“Zack, what are you doing here?” Quinlan addressed the young man who”d been swinging his knives at me. “You know I”m going to have to tell your parents.” The young man looked at his feet and mumbled. Quinlan continued, “What would Kord think of this sort of behavior. Haven”t we talked about what bad news the Stormblades are?”

Myntilly was dusting off her robes. “Quinlan,” she asked, “Why did that red head want to kill me. I don”t get it.”
“Well, I kind of understand. Considering what you all did to her aunt Tirel.”
I pointed to where Anna and Cora had gone. “That is Tirel”s niece? Oh my god.”

We all stood silent for another moment. Dysko spoke up. “What are we doing now?”
I was still holding Zack”s shirt. I looked at him and said, “No one has to come with, but I am taking this young man to the Kordian temple. He has some penance to perform.”

Everyone thought it was a fine idea and so we marched him to the temple and a very nice cleric named Phrysdijul took him off our hands with a promise to help Zack find enlightenment through hard work.

We were standing on the steps of the temple. I looked at my good friends and said, “Let”s go to the Slippery Eel. Beer”s on me.”